Racing is at the core of Felt Bicycles, a company that got its start in the late 1980’s when Jim Felt began building bicycles for motocross legend Johny O’Mara. As cross-training, O’Mara competed in triathlons and Felt—his motorcycle mechanic and a triathlete himself—built them each tri bikes.

From those humble beginnings, Felt has grown to make performance oriented bikes for racers and riders of all disciplines and events including the road racing, track racing, cross country mountain bike, and now, enduro.

Felt’s Virtue Nine series of 29er mountain bikes were designed with enduro in mind, feature 130mm of rear travel, and come in both carbon and aluminum configurations. Felt uses a rear suspension design of their own making, called Equilink that provides a full range of travel independent of drivetrain and braking influences, according to the company.

Our $3799 Virtue Nine 20 is Felt’s top-spec aluminum version of the bike which slots just below the carbon Nine 1 and Nine 3. And while carbon is slick, there’s just something about the Nine 20’s stunning paint—a color called Fool’s Gold—that makes us want to get this bike on the trail.

Spec Highlights

Equilink is Felt’s patented design that isolates active working suspension from drivetrain or braking influence. This should result in a great climbing bike, but will it be plush on the downhills as well?

The RockShox Monarch RT3 shock provides the rear cush.

Like most of the bikes in our test, Felt’s integrated head tube accommodates a tapered steerer fork with an 1-1/8-inch upper bearing and 1.5-inch lower bearings to improve front-end stiffness and steering precision without adding weight.

With their extensive knowledge of carbon, it is not surprising to see Felt spec their own UHC 720mm carbon handlebar and a 70mm Felt MTB 3D-forged stem.

We are happy to see Felt spec one of our favorite dropper posts—the KS Lev.

Gregg Kato studied journalism and broadcasting in college while working many different jobs including deejaying, driving a forklift and building web sites (not all at the same time). Kato has been the Site Manager of Mtbr.com for over 14 years and enjoys riding local Santa Cruz trails. Besides being an avid mountain biker, he is also a motorcycle fanatic. Two wheels, one Passion.

(Visited 7,179 times, 1 visits today)

Related Articles

NOTE: There are two ways to comment on our articles: Facebook or Wordpress. Facebook uses your real name and can be posted on your wall while Wordpress uses our login system. Feel free to use either one.